by Tanner Kocher
Chapters 6 and 7
I want to try something a little different for this one. The release of episode 7 kind of snuck up on me, but I don’t feel like that’s a bad thing. Watching these two episodes back to back works because episode 6 is very much a filler episode, and 7 is easily the most important episode so far. Don’t get me wrong, they are both fantastic. I just don’t think there’s a lot to say about episode 6. I’m going to touch on a few points from 6 first, then dive right into 7.
[Spoiler Warning Ahead]
The Prisoner, as I said before, is mostly filler. Mando is hired by an old friend and joins a crew made up of equal parts ‘strawman’ and convenience. By strawman, I mean these characters exist to add tension to the plot. One of the members is a supposed ex-lover of Mando; the brother is the one getting rescued. Mando doesn’t trust droids; guess we better make that guy the pilot. Outside of that, it is a pretty solid heist episode. I’m going to give it an 8 out of 10. I would have given it a 9, but Mando’s flamethrower still isn’t useful, so I can’t in good conscience believe he’d still be using it.
Now, onto the meat. Episode 7 begins with Mando receiving a transmission from Greef Karga, Mando’s main contact at the bounty hunters guild on Nevarro. This is the first of a few times in this episode that we see the same hologram technology used in a New Hope, where we can see Greef has to turn off the recorder, much like Leia. There are a lot of examples up classic tech in both of these episodes, so I’ll just make the same blanket statement as I always do: the set designers took so much care and really did their research when designing this show.
Mando can’t trust Greef, so he enlists the help of a few friends from around the galaxy. First, he picks up Cara Dune, who isn’t interested until she is. He then goes and recruits the short, old man from the first and second episodes, who we now learn is called Kuiil. He demands that Mando agrees to bring along a now reprogrammed IG-11 to help care for the Child, and his blurrgs, for some reason. It’s around this point that you realize everything is happening so that we can have a big climax just before an extra-long wait for the finale.
I think I’m giving the wrong impression here. I really liked the episode. It was fun and playful for the first 30 minutes, and held the tension throughout the ending. Even though most of the surprises were obvious (Greef betraying Mando, the Imp not being the main bad guy, etc.), it still kept me on the edge of my seat. One thing I especially like was the fact that Kuiil died. I expected some literal Deus ex Machina with IG-11 taking out the speeders in the nick of time, but no such rescue happened. I give this one a 9 out of 10 because it presents a satisfying set up for the end of the show. I eagerly await the finale, and hope for the future of Disney+ and a whole.